Star Wars actress’s photoshop shame

Academy award-winner Lupita Nyong'o has slammed the UK edition of Grazia for photoshopping her hair on the cover of their latest issue.

The 13 Years a Slave and Star Wars: The Force Awakens star took to Instagram over the weekend to call out the magazine for airbrushing her naturally-curly ponytail out of their cover shot.

Nyong’o posted an image of the Grazia cover alongside what appears to be the original image. While the magazine’s shot shows the actress with short and smooth hair, the original image shows that some of her hair has been removed.

"I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like," wrote Nyong’o.

"Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women's complexion, hair style and texture,"

The post has so far gained over 256,509 likes and endless support for Nyong’o from fans.

"You are not only beautiful but a perfect role model for young girls! " posted one user.

"I can’t believe this. It’s ridiculous! You’re right, let’s show them that we won’t accept this kind of thing!" wrote another.

Fans were quick to support Nyong’o (pictured at the 2017 CFDA Awards in June) on social media. Image: Instagram/@lupitanyongo
Grazia UK released a statement on Instagram apologising to Nyong’o and spoke of their commitment to represent diversity in their pages.

"Grazia is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages and apologies unreservedly to Lupita Nyong’o,"

"Grazia magazine would like to make it clear that at no point did they make any editorial requests to the photographer for Lupita Nyong’o’s hair to be altered on this week’s cover, nor did we alter it ourselves,"

"But we apologise unreservedly for not upholding the highest of editorial standards in ensuring that we were aware of all the alterations that had been made."

Nyong’o, who can next be seen in Stars Wars: The Last Jedi in December, has been open about her mission to change Hollywood’s portrayals of black women.

"I want to play women of all walks of life and all places, not just African roles. But, by default, whatever woman I play will be black, and in so doing, it will be expanding our understanding of what that experience is — because it's not a singular experience."

In October, Beyoncé’s sister Solange found herself in a similar situation when she called out The Evening Standard for digitally removing a braided crown in her hair on their cover.

The Losing You singer posted the unedited image of the photo on Instagram with the simple caption "Don’t touch my hair".

Solange slammed The Evening Standard for photoshopping her hair in October. Image: Instagram/@saintrecords